During processing of electrically non-conductive webs of material, including sheets of material, static electricity may be generated. The web of material may be made from paper or be paper-based, may be made from a plastic or other synthetic singular or compound material, like foil material, or may be a fabric, such as a fabric from said materials, or may be a combination thereof. Thus, the web of material may or may not be flexible, and the web of material may be endless, may have a large length, or may have a relatively small length, for example a printed circuit board. The web of material may be a carrier of other webs of material.
The static electrical charges, resulting from a generation of static electricity, at the surface of the web of material attract particles, such as dust particles, in the vicinity of the surface. Such particles adhere to the surface and thereby deteriorate the surface quality, and make the web of material less suitable or unsuitable for further processes to be carried out at the surface, such as printing on the surface, laminating, etc. Accordingly, a need exists to remove the particles from the web surface.
Reference DE 4102276 discloses removal of dust from a web of material. For a neutralization of electrostatic charges at the web, a high voltage electrode is provided near the web. At least one web-like member made from a synthetic material which is movable and guided by guide rollers, has at least a part extending parallel to the web of material. The member may be electrostatically charged by means of a further high voltage electrode to generate an electric field between the member and the web of material. Along the path of the member, downstream relative to the part of the path extending parallel to the web of material, a vacuum cleaner device is arranged to remove the dust from the synthetic material web by suction.
In the device as disclosed in the reference, a problem exists in that in operation the web-like member, when moving along the guide rollers, is subjected to varying mechanical stresses which lead to a limited lifetime of the member. Another problem is the limited length of the member as seen in the longitudinal direction of the guide rollers to retain a stably operating configuration, thereby limiting a width of webs of material to be cleaned, or necessitating a costly use of a plurality of devices when cleaning a large width web of material. A further problem may be recognized in that the charging of the web-like member is poorly controllable by the configuration of the further high voltage electrode. A still further problem is the relatively complicated mechanical construction of the particle removal device.